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Introduction to the Flux cluster and batch computing

October 2, 2017 @ 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

East Hall B254

Overview

This workshop will provide a brief overview of the components of the Flux Cluster. The main body of the workshop will cover the resource manager and scheduler, creating submissions scripts to run jobs and the options available in them, and hands-on experience. By the end of the workshop, every participant should have created a submission script, submitted a job, tracked its progress, and collected its output. Participants will have several working examples from which to build their own submissions scripts in their own home directories.

Prerequisites

Obtain a user account on Flux. If you do not have a Flux user account, click here to go to the account application page at: https://arc-ts.umich.edu/fluxform/

Register for Duo authentication. See below for details.

This course assumes familiarity with the Linux command line as might be got from the CSCAR/ARC-TS workshop Introduction to the Linux Command Line. In particular, participants should understand how files and folders work, be able to create text files using the nano editor, be able to create and remove files and folders, and understand what input and output redirection are and how to use them.

Supplementary materials

Course Preparation

In order to participate successfully in the workshop exercises, you must have a Flux user account and be registered for the Duo authentication service. The user account allows you to log in to the cluster, create, compile, and test applications, and prepare Flux jobs for submission. Information about registering for Duo is at the ITS Two Factor Authentication web page.

Flux user account

A single Flux user account can be used to prepare and submit jobs using various allocations. If you already already possess a user account, you can use it for this course, you can skip to “Flux allocation” below. If not, please visit https://arc-ts.umich.edu/fluxform to obtain one. A user account is free to members of the University community. Please note that obtaining an account requires human processing, so be sure to do this at least two business days before class begins.

Flux allocation

We create an allocation for the workshop so you can run jobs on the cluster during the workshop and for one day after for those who would like additional practice. The workshop allocation is quite limited and is intended only to run examples to help you cement the details of job submission and management. If you already have an existing Flux allocation, you can use that, though if there are any issues with that allocation, we will ask you to use the workshop allocation.

Laptop Preparation

The classroom contains Windows computers, which require your uniqname and UMICH password to login, and which have all necessary software preloaded.

If you want to use a laptop for the course, you are welcome to do so. However, if there are problems connecting your laptop, you will be asked to switch to the provided computer for the class. We will try to help resolve issues after the workshop.

If you want to try to prepare your laptop for use in the class, please see our web page on Preparing your laptop to use Flux. If you have a Windows computer, we recommend that you install PuTTY/WinSCP from the Blue Disc web site. Macintosh computers typically have the minimum requirements installed as part of the system.

More help

Please use our class mailing list hpc101course@umich.edu for questions, comments, or to seek further assistance.